About us

About the Paper

The Daily Examiner in 2004 celebrated 145 years of continuous publication, making it one of the oldest regional daily newspapers in Australia.

The Examiner, a community-minded Monday to Saturday tabloid, also boasts one of the fastest growing circulations in New South Wales.

Employing more than 30 full-time staff in Grafton, Maclean and Yamba, the company also produces a vibrant free weekly paper, Coastal Views, delivered to Clarence Valley households on Fridays.

A major redesign of The Examiner was highly commended in the PANPA 2002 Newspaper of the Year Awards for dailies and Sundays up to 20,000.

And the journalistic work of individual reporters and photographers consistently has been recognised in top national awards, including the Walkleys.

History

The Clarence and Richmond Examiner was ostensibly launched in 1859 by William Edward Vincent. However, the power behind the throne was wealthy politician Clark Irving, an advocate of the separation of the Northern Rivers from the colony of New South Wales.

Grafton generally had three or more newspapers from 1874 into the new century when the tri-weekly Clarence and Richmond Examiner was converted into a daily on July 1 1915, "to keep public issues constantly before the minds of the people".

Grafton has had a succession of long-serving editors who won renown for their editorial leadership in community affairs, most notably most notably Cecil Bush Bailey (1886-1944), William Bailey-Tart (1944-1960) and John Irvine Moorhead (1960-1977).

Grafton surgeon Dr Earle Page, later a caretaker prime minister and knight of the realm, was a major boardroom influence on The Examiner as it continued to champion the New England New State proposal, a hydro-electric scheme on the Nymboida River, and a deep-sea port plan for Iluka.

Editors who have had the stewardship of the paper in the era of modern technological advancement include Geoff Orchison, Robert Milne and Peter Ellem, who has campaigned for a second Grafton bridge crossing, an ambulance station/health clinic in Yamba and improvements to the Pacific Highway.